Powerfully compelling, American conductor Deanna Tham is known for her captivating and tenacious spirit on and off the podium. She is currently the Associate Conductor of the Oregon Symphony and Music Director of the Union Symphony Orchestra.

Previously, Tham was the Assistant Conductor of the Omaha Symphony, following her tenure as Assistant Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony and Principal Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras.

In 2024 she appeared in the prestigious La Maestra Conducting Competition in Paris, France where she was a semi-finalist.

Deanna Tham has performed at the Proms in Royal Albert Hall, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and Seiji Ozawa Hall at the Tanglewood Music Center working with Maestros James Ross, Joseph Young, and Sir Antonio Pappano, as well as renowned artists Isobel Leonard and Joyce DiDonato. She has appeared with the Oregon Symphony, Victoria Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Ballet Idaho, Opera Idaho, Orpheus PDX, 45th Parallel, and Present Music Milwaukee.

Recent highlights include leading the all-women Broadway Sinfonietta in the world-premiere of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse live with symphonic score, Jacksonville Symphony’s first educational Martin Luther King Jr. tribute concert and the Union Symphony’s first city-community Pops on the Plaza. She served as Assistant Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra (NYO-USA and NYO2) and Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Sinfonietta with Maestro Mei-Ann Chen. Tham is a cover conductor for the San Francisco Symphony.

Deanna Tham is passionate about cross-genre collaborations. These projects include full-feature blockbuster movie scores, collaborations with Cirque Musica, broadway artists, pop cover groups like Jeans ’n Classics, independent artists like Silent Film Score connoisseur and composer, Ben Model, and the Louisville Ballet Academy.

She is a staunch advocate of music education from youth orchestras to lifelong learning. In 2018, Tham and the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras made their debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California. Deanna has written original school-curriculum-based programs for various symphony orchestras and collaborated with organizations including the Central Academy for Technology and Arts.

A second-place winner in the Youth Orchestra Conductor division of the American Prize, Deanna has worked with renowned conductors Marin Alsop, James Ross, Victor Yampolsky, and Ken Kiesler. In 2013, her work with the National Music Festival was featured on National Public Radio as well as American Public Media.

Tham holds a Professional Studies Certificate from the Cleveland Institute of Music in Orchestral Conducting studying with Maestro Carl Topilow. She received her Master of Music in conducting from Northwestern University studying with Dr. Mallory Thompson and working with Dr. Robert Harris, Victor Yampolsky, and Dr. Robert Hasty. Tham received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in horn performance studying with Dennis Abelson, Zachary Smith, Bob Lauver, and Steven Kostyniak at Carnegie Mellon University.